HSBC hires CIMB's Omar Siddiq as CEO of Malaysian unit

[KUALA LUMPUR] HSBC Holdings has hired Omar Siddiq from CIMB Group Holdings to head its Malaysian unit, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday (Jan 12).

The announcement confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg News, which cited people with knowledge of the matter, that the head of CIMB Group's wholesale banking division and deputy chief executive officer of CIMB's Malaysia business will join the UK lender after serving a gardening leave period.

The people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private, said Omar will become the first Malaysian to run the local HSBC unit. He will replace HSBC's current Malaysia CEO, Stuart Milne, who is retiring end of March, HSBC said in a statement after Bloomberg's report.

CIMB Group, Malaysia's 2nd-largest lender by assets, said in a separate statement that Omar had resigned to "pursue a different opportunity". In the interim, CIMB's group chief executive officer Abdul Rahman Ahmad will directly oversee the group wholesale banking business, the bank added.

Omar has been with CIMB for more than 3 years, following stints at RHB Bank, Malaysia Airlines and the country's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Omar didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

HSBC's presence in Malaysia dates back to 1884 when it set up its office in Penang, according to its website. The unit operates more than 60 branches and employs over 4,000 people in the South-east Asian nation.

The UK lender's local unit has the distinction of being the first to be given a licence to operate a takaful, or Islamic insurance business, and the first locally incorporated foreign bank to be awarded an Islamic banking subsidiary licence in Malaysia, its website shows.

BLOOMBERG